Customizing garlic flavor

Susie wrote an interesting blog today on the problem of having too many Italian cookbooks (see Magic number) so we thought this recent article from Serious Eats,  On Developing Garlic Flavor, might make a nice companion piece. Kenji Alt, who writes Ask The Food Lab, deals with the question of how to tame garlic’s harshness.

In the article he reveals some excellent practical advice on managing garlic, explaining the science behind the two possible ways to attack garlic’s bitterness problem: wash the garlic after it is chopped or sliced, or cook it – whether blanching or sautéing it. And the key to just the right amount of garlic flavor is adding layers of garlic that have been handled in different ways. Among his suggestions are marinating, infusing, or adding garlic just at the end.

Check out the article for full details and, most importantly, follow his best piece of advice: “Let it cook for  too long, and you start moving out of caramelized/browned territory and into burnt/acrid land.” And that is not a flavor note you want at any time.